Not that it matters since it's a tuner car, but this orange Mini John Cooper Works went around the Nordschleife as fast as a stock Audi R8 V10. Or a Pagani Zonda S for that matter. An SLS AMG wouldn't beat it either.

To get that sort of performance out of the previous Mini, the engine was tuned to send 286 horsepower through a Drexler mechanical limited-slip differential, plus the whole thing was lightened to 2,215 pounds while running on sticky Dunlop Direzza 03G semi slicks.

The result is 7:44, a whole ten seconds off the front-wheel drive record holder Renault's time. Since it's not a production car like the Renault or others chasing the FWD 'Ring record, it may not officially count, but it's still damned impressive.

The good news is that if you have a Porsche 997 GT3 RS or faster and drive at least as good as Christian Gebhardt, you can catch it.